Trenton council votes to take corrective action after misuse of federal funds

Trenton business administrator Sam Hutchinson. To purchase this and other photos, visit http://TimesofTrenton.zenfolio.com.Martin Griff/The Times

TRENTON — City council will send a letter to Mayor Tony Mack and the state Department of Community Affairs regarding corrective action for the misuse of federal funds, council members said today.

The council voted Monday night to send the letter following two closed-door sessions on Friday and Monday that were called to discuss employee positions paid for with Community Development Block Grant funds provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

City officials refused to give further details. Business administrator Sam Hutchinson, who served as an attorney for HUD in Washington, D.C. for more than 20 years before getting the city job last year, did not return a message seeking comment.

CDBG money may be used to pay for specifically designated projects such as park construction and grant funding for local organizations that build housing, fight homelessness and provide job training for teens, among other efforts.

The salaries for 10 employees in two city departments, Housing and Economic Development and Health and Human Services, are partially or completely funded by CDBG. But paying employees who are not doing work that falls under the program’s purview could violate the terms of the federal grants and require the city to reimburse misused money with other funds.

City clerk Richard Kachmar said he and Council President George Muschal were drafting the letter. He declined to discuss its contents or the council discussions, citing the executive session.

“We did resolve the matter,” Kachmar said.

The letter will be reviewed by the city attorney and go to council members for final approval before it is sent out, possibly this week, Council President George Muschal said. He declined to comment on its contents.

Councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson also declined to comment on the letter except to describe it as “regarding corrective action.”

CDBG coordinator Marc Leckington declined to discuss the matter, and a representative of the state Department of Community Affairs, which oversees the city’s finances and personnel decisions under the terms of Trenton’s state aid package, said the agency could not comment today. Council members Phyllis Holly-Ward, Zachary Chester and Verlina Reynolds-Jackson did not respond to messages.

During the two executive session meetings, which each lasted a few hours, several city employees were ordered to appear, including Leckington and others who deal directly with the city’s CDBG allocations. The sessions were noticed to the public as “emergency” sessions, exempting them from the usual 48-hour public notice.

CDBG, a program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, funds a wide variety of community-building initiatives, particularly in low- and moderate-income communities. Eligible projects must fit within the national objectives for the program.
Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717.